Eco-Business

22/08/2025

Despite growing calls to address the issue of plastic pollution, negotiations for a global treaty stalled in Geneva last week.

The response has been mixed. Conservation group WWF said that the breakdown in negotiations means the plastic crisis “will continue unchecked while the world waits for the urgent action it so desperately needs.” But others say no treaty is still preferable to a weak treaty.

Doug Woodring, head of Ocean Recovery Alliance, points out that, within three years, over 180 countries now have negotiating teams focusing on plastic pollution. "That in itself is a giant achievement, whether we signed something or not", he says.

What do you think? Join our webinar on Monday to share your thoughts with our team: [https://www.eco-business.com/events/unpacking-asias-plastic-pollution-problem/]

Eco-Business coverage of the INC talks features perspectives from NGO leaders, industry watchers and regional experts. Visit eco-business.com to stay up to date on sustainable development and green finance and policy.

22/08/2025

We are less than a week away from Unlocking capital for sustainability Philippines! Have you saved your seat? Register here: https://www.unlockingcapitalforsustainability.com/philippines/2025

How can Philippines can close its sustainable finance gap, strengthen resilience, and realise its AmBisyon Natin 2040 vision? Regional leaders and industry experts will share their perspectives on this exciting day of dialogue.

Swipe through the slides to see the agenda at a glance.

🗓 28 August 2025
📍 Marco Polo Ortigas Manila
👥 Group of 3+ – ₱2,400/pax (40% off)
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Unlocking capital for sustainability Philippines is organised by Eco-Business in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is our supporting partner. Our outreach partners are Asia Clean Energy Partners, Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), APLMA (Asia Pacific Loan Market Association), Global Green Growth Institute, The iMPACT Magazine - ASSISTAsia, Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives, QBO Innovation, and Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines - La Cámara.

22/08/2025

We’re saddened by the sudden closure of The Projector, the independent cinema that has meant so much to Singapore and to us.

For slightly more than a decade, The Projector gave a voice to stories and perspectives often overlooked. Many in our community have their own fond memories of community gatherings, brilliant films and live events at different locations throughout town.

Eco-Business hosted wonderful screenings of our impact documentary Wasted at both Golden Mile and at Cineleisure, and we will always remember these moments fondly.

Thank you, .

21/08/2025

Some Southeast Asian countries are fast-tracking renewables permitting to meet their 2030 clean power targets. The Philippines’ “green lane” permitting system has already approved 176 projects worth US$93 billion. Vietnam and Thailand have also streamlined the processes for project auctions.

However, experts warn that without proper spatial planning, the speed and scale of renewables expansion being pursued in the region and beyond could lead to land conflicts and biodiversity risks, especially since they require vast new transmission infrastructure.

Earlier this year, Indian conglomerate Adani pulled out of a wind project due to the potential ecological damage to the Sri Lankan district of Mannar – a critical node in one of the most important bird migration corridors globally. In June, India's Ministry of Finance also requested for ADB to withdraw a proposed loan for a 1 GW solar park in Assam, following protests from local communities facing displacement due to the project.

“East Asian countries are not catching up fast enough on the potential biodiversity impact of renewable energy", said Ding Li Yong, BirdLife International’s head of species conservation and flyways in Asia. “Legislation is just not going fast enough, so people who are investing in wind, solar and dams are moving much faster than the policymakers. That is something that worries me as someone who lives here.”

🔗 Read the special report now: [https://www.eco-business.com/news/not-a-given-that-renewables-will-be-harmless-how-poor-siting-could-slow-southeast-asias-energy-transition/]

As fossil-heavy nations race to scale solar and wind by 2030, weak environmental and social safeguards risk fuelling local pushback. Experts warn fast-tracked permitting must not come at the cost of spatial planning and public consultation.

20/08/2025

John Haffner leads a sustainability team of 11 in Hang Lung Properties, a company of 4,000 employees that is aiming to achieve net zero by 2050.

His team has taken a distinctive approach to Hang Lung Properties’ decarbonisation plan by publishing the draft of the firm’s net zero plan for open discussion.

In the latest episode of our “On the frontlines” podcast series, we discuss the importance of "stretch" sustainability targets, Discipline and sustainability spending, advice for aspiring sustainability professionals, and more.

Listen on our website: [https://eb.news/5YyoPBB9RliA]

🔗 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5D8Of2WkFL6s1T2IFxV3Zg?si=znt8rdJNSrusRCErjkdZ8g

🔗 Soundcloud: [https://soundcloud.com/user-101945751/are-our-climate-targets-too-weak-or-too-ambitious-hang-lung-properties-john-haffner

Having "stretch targets" for climate can spur innovation, says Hang Lung Properties' sustainability chief John Haffner on the latest episode of "On the frontlines".

20/08/2025

Tekura Moeka'a, a representative from the Cook Islands, covers her eyes in frustration as INC-5.2 adjourns on 15 August, without adopting a treaty to end plastic pollution.

About US$40 million has been spent on treaty negotiations over the past three years, and now that the latest session has faltered in Geneva, it is unclear when and where the next round of negotiations will be.

The most recent round of negotiations exposed “deep geopolitical divides and a troubling resistance to confronting the real drivers of plastic pollution,” says Christina Dixon, oceans campaign lead of London-based non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Delegates have struggled to mediate the split between the high ambition coalition, composed of countries that favoured a treaty that would cap the amount of plastic produced and set limits on certain toxic chemicals, and a smaller bloc, known as the like-minded group. They are made up of oil-producing countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and Kuwait that wanted to keep the agreement’s focus on plastic waste collection and better recycling.

Despite the high ambition coalition being the majority, they are held hostage by the veto powers in consensus decision-making which allows the like-minded group to prevent progress, said EIA’s Dixon.

Read our explainer on the future of the talks:

About US$40 million has been spent on treaty negotiations over the past three years. Now that the latest session faltered in Geneva, it is unclear when and where the next round of negotiations will be.

19/08/2025

Malaysia is already the world’s second largest AI hub after the United States.

The country's low electricity prices, cheap land, and tax breaks have attracted the likes of Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, TikTok owner Bytedance, and Oracle to invest millions into new infrastructure.

But a new report by RimbaWatch reveals that the country's plans to grow its data centre capabilities could result in 10 million tonnes of climate pollution — the equivalent of adding two million cars to the road.

Read more about the report: [https://www.eco-business.com/news/malaysias-new-ai-data-centres-could-release-10-million-tonnes-of-climate-pollution-study/]

Malaysia's new AI data centres could release 10 mil tonnes of climate pollutants: RimbaWatch study

18/08/2025

Malaysia’s latest five-year economic development blueprint, the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), has introduced a raft of measures to support efforts as part of a “green economy”. These include a pilot carbon capture project in the iron and steel industry and planned development of the nuclear industry.​

Environmental groups have responded with concern about the plan’s lack of firm policies and financing mechanisms to protect nature and biodiversity.​

“There is an urgent need for a more robust, comprehensive and transparent sustainability assessment and sustainability limits to align all [the policies] with climate and biodiversity targets and governance,” said Meenakshi Raman, president of environmental non-profit Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).​

Discover the key demands that Greenpeace Malaysia and nine other non-governmental organisations want included in the 13MP:

NGOs urged the government to improve forest data transparency by making maps of protected areas publicly available, and to channel funds to frontline communities living near forests.

15/08/2025

Singapore’s top-listed companies posted record-high scores in the latest Singapore Governance and Transparency Index (SGTI), with SATS, Keppel, and Singtel leading the list.​

SGTI scores the corporate governance disclosures of Singapore Exchange (SGX)-listed firms across five criteria, including their board responsibilities, shareholder rights, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.​

Despite the high scores, some questioned whether SGTI reflects genuine corporate government performance, or simply the resources firms have to make detailed disclosures. ​

🔗 Our latest story explores the progress and limitations of Singapore’s most prominent corporate governance benchmark: [https://www.eco-business.com/news/singapore-listed-firms-see-record-corporate-governance-scores-cdl-falls-from-top-10/]

Air cargo handler SATS retains the top spot on the governance and transparency index, but real estate giant CDL – second last year – has dropped from the top 10 ranking. Financial metrics are set to be added to the scorecard from 2026.

15/08/2025

Carbon market experts have raised concerns over a proposed draft standard under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.​

The draft standard was published mid-July with a call for written input by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). More than a hundred organisations submitted responses.​

Critics are saying that the proposed changes could:​
🌱 Make land-based projects financially unviable​
🌱 Disadvantage Indigenous and local communities​
🌱 Redirect climate finance away from nature-based solutions​

🔗 Read more:

Carbon market experts say the draft standard risks excluding all nature-based projects from being recognised as carbon removal solutions under the Paris Agreement, undermining efforts to achieve...

15/08/2025

In the final hours of negotiations for an internationally-binding plastic treaty, China and Indonesia proposed measures related to plastic leakages and production for the first time. The talks, which were originally scheduled to end on 14 August, have been extended by one day.​

🔗 Read our latest coverage on the INC-5.2 plastics talks: https://www.eco-business.com/news/china-indonesia-stepping-up-in-plastics-treaty-negotiations-observers/

For nearly two weeks, representatives of the 184 nations gathered in Geneva remained deadlocked over basic definitions, the scope of the treaty and whether to limit plastic production at all. ​

The petrochemical states Saudi Arabia, Russia, Malaysia, Iran, and the United States, known as the like-minded group, outrightly rejected binding commitments to reduce or cap plastic production, arguing that such measures would threaten their economies. ​

"[China and Indonesia] have advanced a little bit all their positions. They didn’t do that a few months ago, but they are doing it here. They have understood the economic case [of cutting plastic production] and they can see it is in their best interest to have a level playing field and global standards,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, special representative for climate change of Panama, in a press briefing on Monday.

Top global plastic producer China and plastic polluter Indonesia have for the first time proposed measures related to plastic leakages and production, as the world attempts to break the deadlock on a plastics treaty in the final hours of negotiations.

15/08/2025

Health stewardship in Asia is in a defining moment, with new challenges and opportunities emerging. Is it time to rethink the role of philanthropy?

At this year’s Philanthropy Asia Summit, health and government leaders emphases the importance of new forms of partnerships – with deeper collaboration across governments, the private sector and philanthropy.

🔗 Read our coverage on the conference: [https://www.eco-business.com/news/philanthropys-role-in-defining-moment-for-health-stewardship-in-asia-helping-countries-build-self-reliance/]

🔍 Access the Philanthropy Asia Summit 2025 Insights report for more highlights from the conference discussions: bit.ly/pas25report

Recent developments present challenges for global health diplomacy, but could provide an opportunity for a rethink of how philanthropy can complement government funding.